John lowe



(No Model.)

J. LOWE.

OX BOW FASTENING. No: 826,229. Patented Sept. 15, 1885.

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IlNiTiE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN LOWE, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

OX-BOW FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 326,229, dated September 15, 1885.

Application filed June 27, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN Lown, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ox-Bow Fastenings or Pins, of which the following is a specification.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved ox-bow fastening. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, and Fig. 3 is a plan view showing a slightly-modified construction of the same.

In the drawings, A designates the pin, and B the holding-spring.

The pin A is preferably made of either wrought or malleable iron. At one end I form an enlargement or head, a, for the purpose of securing thereto the separately-formed holding-spring B. The spring Bis formed from sheet metal, preferably long enough to extend, when doubled, nearly the length of the pin A, and form a spring holding arm upon each side of said pin. The forward ends, 0 c, of the spring-arms are curved outward, while just back of said outwardly-curved ends there is a semicircular bend adapted to embrace the sides of an oX-bow at one of its ends. The point of the pin project-s slightly beyond the forward ends of the spring-arms, in order to facilitate putting the pin through the end of the bow. The convex sides of the springarms, a little back of the forward end of the pin, come close against the sides of the pin, as shown. In order to form a convenient handle, and also to give snfficient length to the springarms to have them thus come against the pin when at rest, and to spring back over the sides of the bow end when inserting or withdrawing the pin, I make a lesser semicircular bend, which curves outward and forward from the head a, and then inward, as shown. The head a is slotted transversely on one side to receive the spring B edgewise, as shown. A small perforated plate or cap, I), is then placed upon one side of the head a, over the spring B, with the small lugs on the head passing through the perforations in said cap. By riveting down the ends of the lugs the plate and the spring are held firmly in place.

When the pin is inserted in the hole in the (No model.)

end of the bow, the curved ends 0 c first strike the bow and are sprung outward, and as the pin is pushed farther in the spring-arms embrace the bow upon both sides and prevent the pin from being accidentally withdrawn, but by applying sufficient force the springarms will yield and allow the pin to be withdrawn.

I am aware that ox-bow pins have heretofore been made consisting of the pin and a spring-arm which extended along one side of the pin, the same being forged, and all formed of a single piece of metal. Such an ox-bow pin is hereby disclaimed.

I am also aware that a prior patent shows and describes a linchpin for securing wheels upon axles, which consisted of a slotted plate having spring-arms secured to its end, which arms were in the form of the arc of a circle and partially encircled the band of the wheelhub, and the same is hereby disclaimed.

By making the pin and spring-arms of separate pieces I am enabled to make the pin and its head of cast malleable metal or of iron wire, and the spring-arm only of steel, thereby reducing the cost of production, as well as producing, when desired, a spring-arm for the opposite sides of the bow end.

Instead of making both spring-arms of a single piece, two pieces may be employed by making the slot in the head wider, and then lapping the meeting ends of the spring-arms, as shown in Fig. 3. In this connection it will be obvious that one of these single springarms may be used by securing it the same as the double spring-arm is secured in Figs. 1 and 2. In Fig. 3 the plate 12 is dispensed with, and the metal by the side of the slot is battered down a little to hold the spring in place.

It is not essential to my invention that the spring B be secured to the head a of the pin A by the means shown, as the same result may be accomplished in many equivalent ways.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. The herein-described ox-bow pin, consisting of the pin A, having the head a, provided with a transverse slot, and the springarms secured within said transverse slot, and having the outwardly-curved forward ends,

0 c, substantially as described, and for the head end, substantially as described, and for purpose specified. r the purpose specified.

2. The herein-described ox-bow pin, consisting of the pin A and the separately-formed JOHN LOWE 5 spring-arms upon both sides thereof, having Witnesses:

the semicircular bend for embracing the bow JOHN P. BARTLETT,

end, and the lesser semicircular bend on the F. L. HUNGERFORD. 

